Metropolis Councilor Ed Flynn is asking for Mayor Michelle Wu to launch a proper investigation into the “troubling and ongoing” mayhem on the Boston Water and Sewer Fee, with explicit give attention to the company’s senior management.
Flynn wrote to Wu on Nov. 6 calling for an investigation into the beleaguered quasi-public company, which has been the topic of salacious headlines of late documenting internal turmoil between senior management and a number of other staff.
“I am writing to respectfully request a formal investigation into the troubling and ongoing allegations taking place at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission,” Flynn wrote. “For this Commission to regain credibility with Boston residents and operate effectively, an investigation is now warranted of senior leadership at the Commission.”
Flynn, a South Boston councilor, added that the outcomes of the investigation ought to be made public. His letter was included on the agenda for Wednesday’s Metropolis Council assembly.
He declined to remark additional when reached by the Herald on Monday.
Mayor Wu’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
After public data revealed workers turmoil, together with a fired normal counsel Michael Flaherty, a suspended human assets director and purported cronyism within the company’s hiring practices, Wu mentioned final March that she can be taking a more in-depth take a look at the Boston Water and Sewer Fee.
“I have had many things on my plate and have not delved into the details of exactly what’s been going on under the hood of that agency, and that is going to be a place that I spend more of my time thinking about understanding what’s happening, and the oversight that’s needed,” Wu mentioned throughout a radio interview on the time.
Wu added that whereas the Fee has been “excellent” when it comes to delivering metropolis providers, “Some of the other pieces around how the organization is run and the staffing challenges — that is certainly concerning and deserves more of a look.”
Since that point, the internal turmoil has seemingly worsened.
The Fee’s embattled human assets director Marie Theodat was fired on April 18 amid a number of civil lawsuits that included fraud allegations and following three inside investigations commissioned by her ex-employer, which the Fee says had been primarily based on “allegations of misconduct.”
Theodat, who was paid a $202,873 annual wage with the Water and Sewer Fee — after a 61% pay hike and promotion — had been on paid administrative go away since Dec. 2 of final 12 months, per the Fee.
An August 2024 Suffolk Superior Courtroom lawsuit alleges that Theodat labored with family members to swindle her aged, dementia-ridden uncle out of his $1.1 million Dorchester dwelling.
A jury dominated in favor of a girl who filed a separate lawsuit towards Theodat in 2020, alleging that Theodat stiffed her on a $75,000 mortgage mortgage. The jury’s verdict got here down after a virtually weeklong trial, ordering Theodat to pay $72,000 to the plaintiff. She has appealed the ruling, per courtroom data.
Theodat filed an employment discrimination lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Courtroom on Sept. 30, alleging that quite a lot of folks, together with two ex-Boston metropolis councilors — Flaherty and Ricardo Arroyo, who filed the August 2024 lawsuit — the Fee’s former safety chief Sean Canty, and the Herald conspired towards her to get her fired.
Flaherty was fired from his $224,999 job on the Fee final Jan. 10, as a consequence of what his ex-employer mentioned was a “breakdown in the working relationship” between Flaherty and Water and Sewer Fee Govt Director Henry Vitale.
The Fee paid Flaherty, a South Boston politician who spent 20 years on the Boston Metropolis Council earlier than becoming a member of the Fee in January 2024, $253,630 to maintain quiet in regards to the matter — by means of a separation settlement signed by each events final February.
The settlement states that the severance fee was made to Flaherty in change for a launch of all claims — on circumstances that he received’t sue or disparage the quasi-public company, per Fee data.
Dueling restraining orders between Vitale, the Fee’s govt director, and Canty, the Fee’s former director of safety and amenities, spotlight the newest chaos on the beleaguered company.
In an affidavit for a harassment order filed towards Vitale, Canty alleges that he has been topic to improper surveillance by the Fee in retaliation for submitting a state discrimination declare towards Vitale and the company.
Canty filed his harassment order earlier this month, quickly after Vitale filed a restraining order towards Canty, claiming in an affidavit that he was fearful that the fired safety chief’s actions would escalate to violence towards him.
Canty claims that Vitale’s restraining order, filed in late October, is aimed toward weakening the employment discrimination declare he’s filed with the Massachusetts Fee Towards Discrimination, as he mentioned it was filed quickly after the Water and Sewer Fee was served along with his criticism.
The MCAD declare is scheduled for a listening to this Wednesday. Canty was fired by the Fee on Dec. 18, 2024 after an investigation decided that he made racist statements to a Haitian-American colleague, in response to an affidavit Vitale filed alongside along with his restraining order in West Roxbury District Courtroom.
Canty denies that and different claims in Vitale’s restraining order, calling it “bogus” and “full of lies,” whereas a Fee spokesperson known as Canty’s allegations “utter nonsense and part of his misguided effort to defame his former employer.”
The Boston Water and Sewer Fee is overseen by a three-member Board of Commissioners that’s appointed by the mayor with approval of town council.
